Meeting with Philippa Stroud

Meeting with Philippa Stroud


On Friday the 8th of February a group of current/ex-residents and staff members Dianna Menzies and Sallie Williams met with Philippa Stroud, the Conservative Parliamentarian Sutton and Cheam.
The idea of the meeting was to give Philippa as much information as possible about The Henderson, what it does, who and how it treats people with Personality Disorders. Typical backgrounds were discussed and the case for The Henderson was made clear

Dianna and Sallie both spoke to Philippa about the current funding issues of The Henderson and how a great deal of information and statistics have been totally misrepresented and spun in order to look detrimental towards Henderson.

Kati spoke about her role in setting up the Sun Project and its aim to help support Henderson residents once they have left the hospital. St Georges Trust spun the role the Sun Project has had, in order to make it looking like a realistic and cheaper alternative to treatment at The Henderson residential treatment.

The discussions Dianna Menzies has had with the director of the Cassel in Richmond were explained. It was clear that both parties only entertained any possibilities of “merging” because not doing so could have been detrimental to the future of both The Henderson and The Cassel. Once again, these discussions have been misrepresented by the PCT and made to look like both parties are keen to explore a possible merge. This is clearly not the case.

Philippa and Dianna are now exploring the possibilities of Philippa visiting The Henderson so she can see first hand what is affectionately known as “Hendo Magic” This will give her a clear understanding of the very importance of The Henderson and it’s role in the treatment of people with Personality Disorders worldwide.

It was clear by the end off the meeting that The Henderson had made a very strong ally in the campaign to stop the closure of The Henderson Hospital


Some other news

The closure of The Henderson Hospital was up for debate by Wandsworth Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee has voted in favour of full public consultation in the matter of The Henderson closure. Full public consultation will give The Henderson Hospital and full six month period in which to make and state its case and not forced to her news of closure through second-hand resources. As I understand it, the vote was no walkover but went in favour, none the less.

Personally, I think this has to be the best week The Henderson and the campaigners had had since the news broke of The Henderson’s closure